The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Two brothers, Billy (Claudio Undari) and Dan (Paul Piaget), head to California, determined to hunt down and kill Zorro to avenge the death of their brother.

Their ploy, Billy will dress up as Zorro and commit a variety of atrocities, hopefully drawing the real Zorro out of retirement.

The real Zorro is Don Jose de la Torre (Frank Latimore), the richest man in California. His fiance Maria (Maria Luz Galicia) doesn’t want to see Zorro resurrected. She wants to marry and live a quiet life.

Don Jose isn’t fond of donning the mask again either.

But when Billy and Dan have trouble learning the identity of Zorro, they start capturing and threatening those who might be able to provide the answers.

Finally, it’s the brutal death of an aging servant named Raimundo that spurs Zorro back into action.

Review:

Not bad for an early film by Joaquin Luis Romero Marchent. Latimore attacks his role with gusto. So does Billy, the brother slowly becoming unhinged as his efforts to find and kill Zorro keep being thwarted.

A scene in which Billy and the gang accost newlyweds Fernando and Irene on their way back from their honeymoon is particularly effective.

And someone does some fine stuntwork as Zorro, both from the back of a horse and with a rope — scaling and working his way back down the film’s mountain scenery.

Frank Latimore as Don Jose de la Torre, aka Zorro, in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Claudio Undari (Robert Hundar) as Billy, seeking revenge against Zorro for his brother’s death in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Directed by:
Joaquin Luis Romero Marchent

Cast:
Frank Latimore … Don Jose de la Torre
aka El Zorro
Maria Luz Galicia … Maria
Paul Piaget … Dan
Claudio Undari … Billy
as Robert Hundar
Jose Marco Davo … Governor
Mario Feliciano … McDonald
as Marco Feliciani
Maria Silva … Irene
Juan Antonio Arevalo … Fernando
Jose Marco … Olo
Diana Lorys … Mestiza
Raf Baldassarre … Chinto
Marco Tulli … John Gray
Carlos Romero Marchent … Manuel
Miguel Merino … Raimundo

aka;
L’ombra di Zorro
Shades of Zorro

Score: Francesco De Masi
Manuel Parada

Runtime: 88 min.

Paul Piaget as Dan, Billy’s brother and accomplice in trying to unmask Zorro in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Mario Feliciano (Marco Feliciani) as McDonald, the agent sent to stop Zorro in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Memorable lines:

McDonald, the agent from Washington, trying to pass on the streets of a California town: “Get those cows out of the way.”
Herder: “Cows have their rights, too.”

Pianist John Gray: “I’m convinced I’m a good pianist. I have one defect though. Up to the fifth whiskey, my hands obey me perfectly. But after the fifth whiskey, they’re entirely their own. And that’s a problem; they don’t seem to follow me from that point on. The player of honky tonk disappears. In his place emerges triumph, the artist.”

Don Jose as Zorro to two of the men soiling the good name of Zorro: “Now, are you going to talk? Or have you both decided to go shake hands with the devil in person?”

Maria Luz Galacia as Maria, fearful for Don Jose’s future in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Diana Lorys as Mestiza, a young woman in love with Dan, but not his lawless ways in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Trivia:

Born Franklin Latimore Kline, Frank Latimore started his film career in Hollywood in the 1940s before heading to Europe in the late 1950s. Two of his final roles were as a lieutenant in 1970’s “Patton” and a judge in 1972’s “All the President’s Men.”

Joaquin Luis Romero Marchent apparently made another Zorro film the year before this one was released called “Zorro the Avenger” with much of the same cast, including Frank Latimore in the lead role.

Claudio Undari (Robert Hundar), posing as Zorro in order to cause trouble for the masked man in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Paul Piaget as Dan (second from left) and Claudio Undari as brother Billy (right) with friends Olo (Jose Marco) and Chinto (Raf Baldassare) in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Marco Tulli as John Gray, the piano player collecting information for McDonald, the government agent, in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Maria Luz Galicia as Maria, fiance to Don Jose de la Torre (Frank Latimore) in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Frank Latimore as Don Jose de la Torre (aka Zorro) springing back into action with a death-defying ascent in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)

Claudio Undari (Robert Hundar) as Billly, threatening to harm Irene (Maria Silva) if he doesn’t get information about Zorro in The Shadow of Zorro (1962)